pfSense vs Sophos XG
We performed a comparison between pfSense vs Sophos XG based on our users’ reviews in five categories. After reading all of the collected data, you can find our conclusion below.
"The solution is very, very easy to use."
"It works very well. It has a lot of different functionalities. Its cost is also fine for our customers."
"The most useful functionality of Fortinet FortiGate is the user interface, multiple engines, and their cloud with the latest integrations. Additionally, the Security Fabric tool is very good."
"It is a one box solution, which covers most of the edge device’s requirements."
"Advanced routing (RIP, OSPF, BGP, PBR). It gives you a seamless and simple integration into a large network."
"The flexibility and ease of configuration are the most valuable features."
"Good load balancing feature."
"The inspection and web security features are most valuable."
"It is a better firewall than others and it has better features."
"We generally use it because it's cheap. When we need something more robust we use Barracuda and Sony Wireless Routers. For certain clients, we use pfSense because it's compatible with the VoIP platform."
"It works. I put pfSense in, and it works. I can't think of any trouble I ever had with it. It runs on heat-sensitive appliances. They don't need a fan, so they don't overheat. It is affordable, fast, and very high-speed. It is built on BSD Unix, and it pretty much runs on any Intel processor."
"The most valuable features of pfSense are the reports, monitoring, filtration, and blocking incoming and outgoing traffic."
"A very stable product that lasts over time, easy to understand, and administer."
"Its features rival many of the high cost solutions out there."
"The scalability is very good, where you can do an HA configuration and then bring in another box, if necessary."
"It is a good firewall with good performance."
"The interface is very user-friendly and it's easy to manage."
"I like how you can integrate with other endpoints and Intercept X in one central management platform. I think it's a perfect solution. Sophos will manage everything in one container. You can manage many firewalls or endpoints within one panel."
"I particularly like the visibility it provides into network traffic, allowing us to identify and address issues efficiently."
"I have found configuring the ports to be easier in Sophos XG compared to the other devices."
"The SD-WAN feature stands out as the most valuable aspect."
"Great interface and in-built help is very intuitive."
"It's a good security tool and it aligns with the rest of our security stack."
"Good security and a good interface."
"The main aspect of FortiGate that could be improved is load balancing. Our management team does not want to buy another appliance for only load balancing."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by adding enhancements to FortiMail, FortiSOAR, and FortiDeceptor."
"Vulnerability scanning could be improved."
"Fortinet FortiGate could improve by having a frequent ask questions(FAQ) area for people to receive quick answers to popular questions. Additionally, it would be beneficial to have an SMS notification feature. For example, if you cannot access your email you could receive an SMS message."
"The updates Fortinet provides are sometimes unstable."
"Fortigate's hardware capacities could be improved."
"The logs need to be better. They need to be more visible and easier to access."
"We have an issue with hotel guest vouchers."
"It's just not listed as FIPS compliant for where we're at now in government, which is an issue."
"I would like to see SD1 integration into the software. That would be fantastic."
"A way to clean squid cache from the GUI."
"The main problem with pfSense is that we have to use proxy solutions."
"The stability could be improved."
"The user interface can be improved to make it easier to add more features. And pfSense could be better integrated with other solutions, like antivirus."
"Reporting and real-time monitoring, since I'm used to Watchguard's reporting features, it would be nice to have an embedded solution for reporting."
"Ultimately, we'd like something stronger, and something that can handle threats better in real-time."
"The product's user interface has certain shortcomings where improvements are required."
"On reports, they sometimes give a summary, but it lists different users as unknown. There are times that I really want to know which user or which IP is causing a problem."
"Technical support is difficult to access."
"I've had experience with Sophos XG's threat intelligence features, and they provide good coverage, although I wouldn't say they're the best in the industry. The sandbox feature is available with top-tier subscriptions, allowing you to test content in a cloud sandbox. One improvement I'd suggest for Sophos XG is to make certain functionalities, like CR functionality, part of the default firewalling rather than exclusive to premium subscriptions. Enhancing DLP capabilities at the gateway level could significantly boost security for organizations."
"It would be helpful if the solution offered some tutorial videos to help new users learn the system quickly."
"The reports could improve, they do not seem complete and more information could be added."
"I do prefer when updates come out a bit quicker."
"I can't use the product's application control feature, making it a disadvantage of the solution where improvements are required."
Netgate pfSense is ranked 1st in Firewalls with 128 reviews while Sophos XG is ranked 7th in Firewalls with 192 reviews. Netgate pfSense is rated 8.6, while Sophos XG is rated 8.2. The top reviewer of Netgate pfSense writes "User-friendly, easy to manage the firewall, rule-wise and interface-wise". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Sophos XG writes "Easy to use and deploy with an improved pricing structure in place". Netgate pfSense is most compared with OPNsense, KerioControl, Sophos UTM, Cisco Secure Firewall and WatchGuard Firebox, whereas Sophos XG is most compared with OPNsense, Sophos XGS, SonicWall TZ, Meraki MX and Sophos UTM. See our Netgate pfSense vs. Sophos XG report.
See our list of best Firewalls vendors.
We monitor all Firewalls reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.